A friend and I are considering opening a gun range, possibly with a shoot house. This would be in the south bay, possibly near Santa Clara. I don't know though if there is actually demand for a public accessible shoot house to justify the expense. What do you think? Would that be the kind of place you'd go to regularly? Or is it just too novelty, and you prefer a regular range?

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I would be totally interested in this! How would you determine who is/isn't qualified to run in a shoot house though? Training through your range only (like Reeds does), or would you recognize training completed with other firms, etc.

If there was a place in Santa Clara to do more than static shooting, it's something that I would be interested enough to potentially pay yearly dues. This area needs more good indoor ranges.

__________________“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.” - Jeff Cooper, Art of the Rifle

There would definitely be a training requirement more than just basic firearm safety rules. We're considering an idea of a loss leader priced class in house that goes over rules and handling specific for the shoot house, but we're too early in the process to say what is or isn't ok as far as outside training or how involved the in house would be.

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I only ask because it doesn't make sense to have an 'open to civilian' shoot house. It makes sense to run a range where the shoot house can be reserved and classes run through it, but in that case you're not setting any guidelines other than who you rent it to. If you're thinking some range officer will run folks through it then you should consider another business.

I would love a shoot house, buti agree with the above, you couldn't just let Joe blow off the street sign up and run though it. I think setting it up and letting vetted instructors teach classes there would be the way to go. I for one, would take classes there and use the facility quite often

I only ask because it doesn't make sense to have an 'open to civilian' shoot house. It makes sense to run a range where the shoot house can be reserved and classes run through it, but in that case you're not setting any guidelines other than who you rent it to. If you're thinking some range officer will run folks through it then you should consider another business.

That said, there's huge demand for one.

This. Unless you're doing airsoft, shoothouses are not for recreational shooters. There are very few people in the U.S. who are properly trained to safely run one that's live fire.

There may be more people in the bay area but there are a ton of shops and ranges in the bay area.. here in sonoma co, we have only 1 range and that place is the worst and its terrible for pistol and the condition is terrible.... the closest range is 25 miles away. in another county..
A shooting range would do so well here in our co.
I sure wish I had the money to back a range ... Id be right on it..

I'd be interested in a range where you pay membership fees and are able to reserve a lane where you're free to shoot your own targets (except for bottles, TVs, trash, etc) and be your own RO. Not many ranges like this in the SF Bay.

A shoot house would be fun too but that can be setup at another lane. When I lived in Vegas, I'd shoot at this place: dsrpc. I'd love to have a similar place nearby and would pay up to $200/years based on what's available.